SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Yessir, that's the same one, the day that it happened.
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My Big Booty Dually Adventure Rig Build
- Thread starter SFAngus
- Start date
Yessir, that's the same one, the day that it happened.
Must have been a good hit. I checked my rear fender and it feels pretty solid there. I empathize with ya'll. Just waiting for the first ding on mine.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Dent update:
The first round of paintless dent removal is done, and the guy is coming back Monday for another round. (He was running out of time, and he said his shoulder needed a break after working on it for a while.
Here's some before photos:
During:
And after:
There's still one dimple remaining, which is what he's coming back to work on. He said that it's difficult to remove partially because it's right on the curve of the fender, and also because it's just hard to reach. He removed the taillight and has a long pole that he's using to reach inside, but it's tricky.
Hopefully he'll make some more progress, but either way it's a huge improvement.
I'll post the final photos when he's done.
The first round of paintless dent removal is done, and the guy is coming back Monday for another round. (He was running out of time, and he said his shoulder needed a break after working on it for a while.
Here's some before photos:
During:
And after:
There's still one dimple remaining, which is what he's coming back to work on. He said that it's difficult to remove partially because it's right on the curve of the fender, and also because it's just hard to reach. He removed the taillight and has a long pole that he's using to reach inside, but it's tricky.
Hopefully he'll make some more progress, but either way it's a huge improvement.
I'll post the final photos when he's done.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
And here's a sneak peak of the next project:
A reading light for your bed in the cap? LOL
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SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Ha! Almost... lights for the bed are another project actually.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
I got my ditch lights installed yesterday...
I went with a pillar brackets from SDHQ in Arizona. They weren't cheap, but they got high reviews as being the best quality.
The install was super easy, and I'm impressed with the quality so far.
They use the factory hood bolts, and they have nice rubber dampers to keep them off of the paint.
(Please excuse the dusty truck).
For the lights, went with the Color Flood Minis from Ultra Bright Lightz.
They seem to be decent quality so far. I only ran into two minor issues during install. The first was that one of the lights came with a longer bolt, that wouldn't clear the space under the hood.
This turned out not to be a big issue because ordered four of the lights, so I will just use the long bolt for one of the lights that I'm installing on the rear as aux reverse lights.
Unfortunately, I emailed the company and they wrote back and said, sorry, they can't send me a shorter bolt, which was disappointing. I don't see how they could possibly not have any of the correct bolts in stock, but whatever.
My other complaint with the lights is the wiring that they included. The pigtail on each lights is so short, that they are pretty useless. Since these lights are sold in pairs, they should really include enough wiring to join the two lights together to sync them.
Because they didn't provide enough wires, I made my own wiring harness instead.
I utilized the correct color wires to match the instructions, and then noticed that the wire that's labeled blue on the instructions is actually white on the lights.
The wires that come off the lights are also so small guage and short stripped that I wasn't confident that they would hold in a butt connector crimp. So, I stripped them a little further back, and tied them directly to the harness that I made, twisting them together and taping them.
Once I ran the wires to the other side, I joined them with the pigtail from the other lights, and combined they were thick enough to use butt connectors.
I went with a pillar brackets from SDHQ in Arizona. They weren't cheap, but they got high reviews as being the best quality.
The install was super easy, and I'm impressed with the quality so far.
They use the factory hood bolts, and they have nice rubber dampers to keep them off of the paint.
(Please excuse the dusty truck).
For the lights, went with the Color Flood Minis from Ultra Bright Lightz.
They seem to be decent quality so far. I only ran into two minor issues during install. The first was that one of the lights came with a longer bolt, that wouldn't clear the space under the hood.
This turned out not to be a big issue because ordered four of the lights, so I will just use the long bolt for one of the lights that I'm installing on the rear as aux reverse lights.
Unfortunately, I emailed the company and they wrote back and said, sorry, they can't send me a shorter bolt, which was disappointing. I don't see how they could possibly not have any of the correct bolts in stock, but whatever.
My other complaint with the lights is the wiring that they included. The pigtail on each lights is so short, that they are pretty useless. Since these lights are sold in pairs, they should really include enough wiring to join the two lights together to sync them.
Because they didn't provide enough wires, I made my own wiring harness instead.
I utilized the correct color wires to match the instructions, and then noticed that the wire that's labeled blue on the instructions is actually white on the lights.
The wires that come off the lights are also so small guage and short stripped that I wasn't confident that they would hold in a butt connector crimp. So, I stripped them a little further back, and tied them directly to the harness that I made, twisting them together and taping them.
Once I ran the wires to the other side, I joined them with the pigtail from the other lights, and combined they were thick enough to use butt connectors.
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SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Part 2:
Here's the wiring after joining both lights, and taping everything up.
I wired the lights into the auxiliary switches under the hood, with one switch for the solid white flood, and another for the amber. (The lights are dual colored).
Here's the lights all set up:
I also added the Midland extension plates, to accommodate a GMRS antenna on the driver side, and eventually a CB antenna on the passenger side.
I'm waiting for the firestick antenna to arrive, and then I'll get that set up as well as the rear lights.
More later!
Here's the wiring after joining both lights, and taping everything up.
I wired the lights into the auxiliary switches under the hood, with one switch for the solid white flood, and another for the amber. (The lights are dual colored).
Here's the lights all set up:
I also added the Midland extension plates, to accommodate a GMRS antenna on the driver side, and eventually a CB antenna on the passenger side.
I'm waiting for the firestick antenna to arrive, and then I'll get that set up as well as the rear lights.
More later!
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Nice job. When you turn those on I should be able to see the light In Ontario. LOL
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SFAngus
Well-Known Member
A quick update...
I added some 'merica swag to the SmartCap:
And here's some night shots of the ditch lights:
I added some 'merica swag to the SmartCap:
And here's some night shots of the ditch lights:
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Future mods:
Picked up a Pelican Vault case today. Wilco has them on sale for 50% off right now, (usually $199). Killer deal.
It will eventually be mounted on the drop rack, like this:
Picked up a Pelican Vault case today. Wilco has them on sale for 50% off right now, (usually $199). Killer deal.
It will eventually be mounted on the drop rack, like this:
Desertfox73
Well-Known Member
- Joined
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We visited the Point Reyes National Seashore this week, so I took the opportunity to get a few photos of the truck's first trip off pavement.
View attachment 14225
More updates coming soon, and our first towing trip is coming next week... stay tuned!
Great to see the boat is still there; my sister lives in East Bay, got married at Point Reyes (Olema) in 2004, and this boat is in the background of some of the photos from that weekend.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
That's funny, there was a couple in wedding attire taking photos when we were there.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
A delayed update... I managed to squeeze in one more RV trip with the kids before the end of the year. We hit up the KOA in Santa Cruz again.
Big truck in a little campsite:
Stopping for lunch along Highway 1:
Big truck in a little campsite:
Stopping for lunch along Highway 1:
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
I picked up a set of LED lights to use in the back of the truck until I get my 12v LED lights hard wired:
(I had originally picked out a set of CAT brand lights, but they were incorrectly listed as being li-ion batteries, and when they showed up they required AA batteries, which I didn't want).
These ones are a cheap Amazon brand, but they do what I need. They are USB chargeable, (and also act as a USB battery bank if needed), they have two brightness settings, and a flashing mode, and most importantly they are magnetic, which means that I can just slap them up on the ceiling of the SmartCap and move them around to wherever I need light.
Here is the interior at night with just the factory bed light illuminating through the SmartCap window: (which actually works pretty well)
Here is the interior with the LED work lights mounted overhead:
(I had originally picked out a set of CAT brand lights, but they were incorrectly listed as being li-ion batteries, and when they showed up they required AA batteries, which I didn't want).
These ones are a cheap Amazon brand, but they do what I need. They are USB chargeable, (and also act as a USB battery bank if needed), they have two brightness settings, and a flashing mode, and most importantly they are magnetic, which means that I can just slap them up on the ceiling of the SmartCap and move them around to wherever I need light.
Here is the interior at night with just the factory bed light illuminating through the SmartCap window: (which actually works pretty well)
Here is the interior with the LED work lights mounted overhead:
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SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Here's a preview of my next project: installing 12v power and switches in the bed, along with the LED string lights.
More on that project soon...
More on that project soon...
GPurcell01
Well-Known Member
SmartCap on a dually? I think you may be the only one with that setup lol. Sorry if I missed it previously, but how are you liking it? I have the EVOc on order now.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
Ha! I thought I was the only one also, but there's at least one other guy who I saw on Facebook with the same setup as me.
I love it! I had an ARE MX HD on my last truck, and it was nice, but the smartcap is awesome. The only thing I miss is having screened windows, because I actually sleep in the back sometimes.
SFAngus
Well-Known Member
I delivered some bales of straw to my daughter's preschool this week for halloween. Boy was I glad to have the high output dually for this load! I ran fast and reckless with no WDH, but I survived the trip.
